Two Saluki baseball players spent their summer calling a rival stadium home and calling eight other Missouri Valley Conference players their teammates.

Collegiate baseball players have the opportunity to play in summer leagues to develop their play. The Saluki coaching staff placed sophomore right-handed pitcher Austin McPheron and sophomore infielder Ryan Sabo with the Terre Haute Rex.

Terre Haute plays in the Prospect League at Bob Warn Field, which is also home to the Indiana State University Sycamores.

“It was a little funny,” Sabo said. “We just had the conference tournament there and I went right back there to the same field.”

McPheron and Sabo weren’t only calling other conference players their teammates, but they were also playing against six other Salukis in the same league.

“It was kind of weird actually,” McPheron said. “You’re used to being on the same team, but now they’re over in another dugout rooting against you, wearing another uniform.”

Sabo said he liked seeing familiar faces and giving griefto his Saluki teammates. He will treat the other MVC players the same during the season, he said.

“We’ll see all of them next year,” Sabo said. “There’ll be some trash-talking, but it’s all in good fun. We turned into pretty good friends over the summer.”

Sabo was named the starting third baseman for the West Division of the Prospect League All-Star Game. He averaged .230 during the summer with 1 home run, 21 RBIs and 7 stolen bases.

“As far as (Sabo) goes, I just think that he’s a cage rat,” Rex manager Bobby Segal said. “He’s a sponge, he really enjoys the game, he respects the game and he plays it very hard.”

McPheron had a 4-1 record with a 3.61 ERA, 18 walks and 12 strikeouts in six starts.

He chose to come home July 10 because he needed a break from throwing. Saluki coach Ken Henderson said there was no problem with that.

“I talked with him at length before he came home,” Henderson said. “It wasn’t like he just quit. He and I had a long talk, and that’s not uncommon. We did the same thing with Cody Forysthe once. Sam Coonrod came home early twice.”

Henderson said this year was the first time in his career at SIU, every returning position player was placed with a summer team. He said he looked at the box scores every time he came to work.

“I had it down to a science,” Henderson said. “We had (players) in about six or seven different places. I had easy access to all of those and knew exactly where to find them so I would check every morning.”

Players usually stay with host families during the summer. Sabo said he has stayed with host families for a week at most before, but staying the whole summer made him feel like a part of the family.

Sabo said his host family lived on a lake and he would usually go fishing with McPheron before games.

“The first day it was pretty much just me and Austin,” Sabo said. “We kind of stuck by each other’s side and had each other’s backs all summer.”

McPheron said this summer was the first time he has stayed with a host family.

“I commute to SIU from home because I live pretty close by,” McPheron said. “That’s really my first time living away from home, so it was a neat experience.”

McPheron said he learned a lot from the other MVC players on the Rex, and has put some of their stuff into his routine. He said he wants to play in a more competitive league next summer, but wouldn’t mind going back to Terre Haute.

Former Rex players include former Indiana State shortstop Tyler Wampler, who played in there in 2013 and won the MVC Defensive Player of the Year in 2014. The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him in June.

Segal said Sabo was one of the team’s best defenders, and he has a lot of potential in the future.

“Those summer league teams are trying to win,” Henderson said. “The coaches, the organization and our kids are trying to win. But for me it’s about getting players back in August that are better than what they left in May.”

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], @Aarongraff_DE or (815)-483-3781